Diane Warren photographed in 2018.
Kwaku AlstonSongwriter Diane Warren will receive the Icon Award at the 12th annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards on March 20. Mitchell Leib, former president of music and soundtracks for Disney’s live action motion picture division, will receive this year’s Legacy Award.
“We are so happy to be able to honor two individuals who have been vital to the craft of telling stories with music,” Joel C. High, president of the Guild of Music Supervisors, said in a statement. “This is a big year!”
The Icon Award was created to celebrate those who have made legendary contributions to the music and film industry. Previous recipients include Quincy Jones, Burt Bacharach, Kenny Loggins, and Marc Shaiman.
“Thank you, Guild of Music Supervisors, for this amazing honor,” Warren said in a statement. “I see that real icons have received this award previously, and I am proud and humbled to be in their company although I don’t really feel like I am one yet. I feel like I’m just getting started so maybe I’ll be an icon when I grow up if I ever grow up that is! I love writing songs for movies, and I’ve worked with a lot of you on them. There’s nothing like the perfect marriage of the right song in just the right place in just the right movie. I love being a part of it and always will.”
Warren won a Grammy for writing “Because You Loved Me” from the 1996 film Up Close and Personal and an Emmy in 2016 for writing “Til It Happens to You” from the film The Hunting Ground. She has been nominated for 12 Oscars and is vying for a 13th nomination this year for her song “Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days. Oscar nominations will be announced on Feb. 8.
The Legacy Award is bestowed to a music supervisor who has made an impact within the industry over the course of their career. Previous recipients include Maureen Crowe, Bob Hunka, Joel Sill, Gary Lemel, and Chris Montan.
“It means so very much to me to be honored by my peers and friends at the GMS and to receive the Legacy award,” Leib said in a statement. “For me, it puts an exclamation point on the closing of this chapter of my professional career as a music supervisor, albeit mostly as a studio music executive at Disney, to whom I will forever be grateful. I started this journey as a rookie independent music supervisor and finish now having achieved every goal imaginable in my wildest dreams.”
The nominees in 16 categories will be announced via a live streaming event on Feb. 10 on the Guild of Music Supervisors’ social media channels across YouTube and Facebook.
NEWS
Brad Paisley has called Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding “one of the least pretentious weddings he’s ever seen”.
The country star attended the ceremony alongside his actress wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley. They joined around 1,000 guests at New York City’s Madison Square Garden earlier this month as the global pop icon married the American football star.
Although the celebration attracted enormous attention and involved tight security and a stunning makeover of the famous arena, Paisley said the occasion never came across as excessive.
“Ironically, (it) was one of the least pretentious weddings that I've ever seen or ever will see,” Paisley told The Associated Press during an interview. “It meant a lot to be (invited). It was, kind of, a big thank you from her to invite us.”
Paisley, who chose Swift as an opening performer for his tour when she was a teenager in 2007, said he was delighted to be included in what many considered the biggest celebrity wedding of the year.
“They were very clear with the invite, and I took this personally when I got the invite, because in the invite, it said, ‘If you're getting this, you mean a lot to us,’” he revealed.
The musician also explained that guests were not told the wedding’s exact location until the date drew nearer.
“It was really fun to watch the cat and mouse game of, like, ‘We can tell you roughly where it's going to be, we're not gonna say what building... and here's the date. If you're in, we'll tell you more,’” he continued. “I went to my wife, I said, ‘Want to go?’ and she said, ‘Absolutely, we gotta be there!’ So, we did it, it was RSVP yes.”
Other famous attendees included Brad Pitt, Gigi Hadid, Bradley Cooper, Ed Sheeran, Sabrina Carpenter, Hugh Grant, Haim and Tom Hanks.
